Nonato Luiz: O Choro da Madeira

Nonato Luiz (Raimundo Nonato de Oliveira Luiz) (b 1952) is a highly regarded and respected Brazilian guitarist and composer, who mixes classical influences in his rootsy playing, distinctly reflecting the rich tradition of the violão in the North East of Brazil. - At three he took up the cavaquinho. At 15 he was already the second violinist of the Symphonic Orchestra of Fortaleza. At that age he opted for the violão (acoustic guitar) as his definitive instrument. In 1975, having already begun to compose, he won the first prize in a violão contest, the same year finishing his studies with Turíbio Santos. Since the '80s he has toured annually through Europe and other contries, he has recorded extensively both in Brazil and abroad and worked with other renowned MPB performers besides continuing his career as a composer and performer in the classical field.

Learn more about Nonato Luiz from his official website (- both in Portuguese and English), click here

Recently I had a copy of the shown cd, 'O Choro da Medeira' (CPC-Umes, CPC 022, released 1999) by Nonato Luiz. The cd has 15 tracks, 9 of them featuring compositions by Nonato Luiz, the remaining have compositions by Pixinguinha, Garoto, João Pernambuco, Paulinho da Viola and Caetano Veloso. I highly recommend these recordings as a splendid example of the accomplished guitar artistry of Nonato Luiz (- click on picture to see tracklist). Sheet music of the compositions by Nonatio Luiz from this cd is also available, to learn more click here

Fábio Zanon has devoted one of his programs to Nonato Luiz in his continuing series of programs on the Brazilian guitar tradition, to be reached clicking here

To give you an impression of Nonato Luiz as a performer, I insert a video from a performance vith symphonic orchestra of one of his compositions available at the mentioned cd, 'Choro dos arcos'. More videos featuring Nonato Luiz available at YouTube

Jo